Collect Nothing Is Strange Depicted By Mike Russell Volume

there were ever a misnomer for a book title, it's Nothing is Strange because in these pages, everything is strange, Twenty short stories grace these pages and I'd love to tell you what they are about, but it's something that would need to be experienced for yourself.


Read more at sitelinkCats Luv Coffee Nothing Is Strange or everything is strange

Mike Russell is a master at oddball books.
I always go into these books not knowing what to expect and come out with my mind blown, It's a similar feeling to watching David Bowie music videos or trying to come up with a valid WandaVision theory Mephisto or Magneto,

This selection of short stories is an easy to read and mind boggling adventure, You can jump in and out without the need to worry or fear that you'll forget something, Each story stands alone and will mess with your mind in a good way, I promise, This book will grab your attention and keep in the a strange and exciting way, If you love bizarre and want to be enticed, welcome to the world of Mike Russell,

I really enjoyed these stories, if I'm being honest, Their kooky, odd, curious, bizarre, strange and all of the other synonyms you can come up with, It's the oddity of Alice in Wonderland it's delightfully fun yet makes you question reality, The absurdity is what makes it so much fun, Is there meaning there What is normality anymore

My personal favourites: Cream Tea, The Diaries of Sun City, and Dunce, The entire book has stories about love, death and grief, some tentacles, miracles and insanity,

This will definitely be a niche book! It's not for every reader and that's okay, The books aren't always straight forward so it can be hard to read in that respect, Either way, these stories will make you grin or grimace in a world full of fun,

Four out of five,

I received the book for free from StrangeBooks in exchange of an honest review, Thank you yet again for another lovely and mind boggling book, The first book I read on my Kindle, Very pleasant. This book is fascinating. Strange short stories, which I realized at some point reminded me of Indian puranas, those lovely stories of Ganesha and co, Myths, which reveal a bigger truth, I don't know if that was the goal of the author, but it is a hard one to write contemporary myths, Or maybe one could say these stories were like zen koans a bit, to bring one to a realization, Or if you don't want to dig so deep, call them surrealist to please the western mind, as à la Borges,

I found they were not strange just for strangeness's sake, and they are often funny, Some times maybe too much was tried to create a metaphor, when the reader's subconsciousness could have finished the job, The efficiency of short phrases and chapters was mostly good although at times I wished the story to go on, I would love the illustrate this kind of literature! I received a free copy of this paperback book from Strange Books in exchange for an honest review.


Nothing is Strange is the first collection of short stories by Mike Russell, I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to read this weird and wonderful collection after having enjoyed his work in Strange Medicine, In this collection, we get to see a wider variety of his style with twenty stories, I liked all of the stories featured here, but my favorites are "The Warehouse", "The Meeting", "Barry and the Triplets", "Extraordinary Elsie", "Mask Man", "Stan and Stan", and "The Living Crown".


These uniquely surreal stories aren't for everyone, but all of them are really well put together, As for all of the stories I mentioned above, I wouldn't say no to hearing a little more from those worlds or having each of them expanded to something a bit longer.
If you like Karen Russell's style from Vampires in the Lemon Grove, you may want to give strange, in the best way, tales a look.


Thanks again to Strange Books for this wonderful opportunity! First thank you to the author for giving me a free copy of the eBook!

Then yes, that book was indeed strange!
I did enjoy the stories because yes you will read several short series in that book.
I feel like each story had a hidden message but I don't think I got them all which confused me a bit,

I found the overall book highly entertaining and quite funny, i know some of the stories weren't that funny but I guess I have a weird sense of humour,

I've never read anything like that and I think I will definitely give his other book a try!

If you're looking for something different, weird but in a good way and with some hidden messages then go for it.
Because what is even weirder with the stories is that they don't make sense but they totally make sense, . . This book was

fantastic. Such odd, hilarious, bizarre, and eerie little stories, I think they were so well done and fun to read,



The zone of the strange,

O give me a home where the curious roam
Where the odd and the puzzling play

You are about to enter the remarkable world of Mike Russell's Nothing is Strange, a collection of twenty bizarre snappers where nothing can be anything and strange is as strange as strange can be.
Reading these brief tales, I was reluctant to underline any of the passages since I had the distinct impression the British author's deeper levels of meaning were to be found in the blank spaces between the lines.


Moreover, I took my time with the book since reading each tale was like swallowing a delectable Alice in Wonderland pill, Much wiser to read one or two or three tales a day so the images and happenings contained therein are given the needed time to work their magic.


Oh, yes, each time I read the first line of a Mike Russell mind blaster I was opening the door onto a private garden where all varieties of exotic flowers bloom: a fountain of tiny white light erupts from a small hole on the top of a man's head there's an enormous concrete building in the shape of a sun a fifteenyearold with a bald, pointed head gets a tattoo on the middle of his forehead that's the first letter of his nickname two lovers have sex in a shopping mall to prove their love to the world.


Such is the nature of an absurdist prose miniature where our habitual and conventional world of what passes for normality is abandoned in favor of a morphed logic flowing into the surreal and fantastic.
Among the practitioners of this unique form, we have such authors as Russell Edson, Daniil Kharms, Barry Yourgrau, Peter Cherches and we have Mike Russell.


I encourage you to pick up Nothing is Strange and treat yourself to some serious strangeness, And speaking of strange, I'll let Mike Russell have the last word via a direct quote from his book: " My life appeared strange because it was one way and not another.
Only if it had been every possibility at once would it have not appeared strange, And that is what I am now, Every possibility at once. And nothing is strange. "


British author Mike Russell, bornI wasnt familiar with any of this author's work before reading this book, but after reading through the entire book a couple of times and going back to a good few of the stories and thoroughly enjoying it, I will be checking out more from Mr Mike Russel in the future.


I cant say that I have ever read anything like this before and its a very difficult read to actually describe!
The first thing I noticed was that the book does not hold your hand, there is a certain amount of thinking involved when reading these beautiful and bizarre short stories, its all about reading between the lines to find the true meaning of each tale.

When reading a tale for the second and third time I found myself noticing other meanings, The book encourages the reader to use their imagination and fill in the gaps, thinking about what the story means to you,

Weird, Wonderful And Sometimes Enchanting!

The first story that really spoke to me was Dunce I picked up a couple of powerful messages in this one!
The next one I really enjoyed was Barry and the triplets and also Escape from the butchers shop.
By this point my brain was constantly searching for hidden meanings and this kept me reading, I couldnt imagine what might come next!
Then Extraordinary Elsie came along and brought a smile to my face, this little story is so beautiful in so many ways!
Insensible Susan Is also worthy of a mention, along with Harrys quest.


The strange worlds this book took me to were so vivid and exciting, I would have loved the characters to explore more! Some of these short stories could be set ups for longer stories and if the author ever chooses to expand on these then I will certainly be checking it out!


Im giving this a bigstars! Its not very often that you pick up a book of short stories and get something out of every single one of them!

Id like to say a massive thank you to Jay for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

'I think that maybe we only cry because we don't understand what is going on, Maybe if we understood what is really going on we wouldn't cry at all, ever, '


If you want to read a book outside of your comfort zone, this might be the one for you,

Nothing is Strange are short stories, some only a couple of pages long, that are surreal and quite absurd, Yet they hit home with me and I absolutely loved them, Very, very unusual to read, I mean, I've never come across a story about humans with key holes and plugs, yet this one was a favourite of mine.
The protagonist was born in a butcher's shop and manages to escape, He walks around town and everyone he meets has a keyhole with a plug, aside from one lady who has a bright light emanating from her keyhole.
He wants the key to all the key holes he wants to escape, She makes him see that everything is an illusion and all he needs to do to escape is look through his own keyhole,

We can interpret this in so many ways, Is it about freedom Not being trapped Trapped in  life In our desires Do we need to question oppressive ideas Where do these ideas come from I would like to see it as we are all free and able to do what we please and have free thought, as long as we believe we can.
Liberating right

Highly recommended!

Honest review in exchange for the book, .